In published US patent application no. 2001/0045573, a surface-mounted optoelectronic component is disclosed. It has a lead frame of two metallic strips and a light-emitting diode chip which is mounted on one of the metallic strips and is electrically conductively connected to the other one of the metallic strips by means of a contact wire. The component also has a housing with a cuboid bottom part which is bonded to the lead frame from below, and a rectangular frame part which is attached to the lead frame from above. The frame part defines a housing cavity which is covered with a cover transparent to radiation.
The intensity of radiation of a single radiation-emitting semiconductor chip is not sufficient for many applications such as, for example, illuminators or lamps but a plurality of semiconductor chips is needed. In such cases, a plurality of components having in each case one semiconductor chip is frequently used. This is described in EP 0 933 823 A2. In this arrangement, the individual components serve as single pixels which are arranged, for example, in the manner of a matrix for an array illuminator or by means of which a spherical lamp is formed in which a number of single pixels or components are grouped around a feed rod.
Although such lamps can be quite suitable for general illumination purposes, their suitability for applications in which the highest possible luminance and the smallest possible radiation angle is required is limited. For example, when individual components are used, limits are set to the densest and most compact possible arrangement of a number of semiconductor chips which in itself is due to the size of the component housing. In addition, it is required to connect each individual component electrically which also costs space and can be relatively expensive and as a result of which space requirement and manufacturing expenditure are increased further.